Larson answers call during kulokk demonstration

Peggy Larson demonstrated kulokk — a traditional Norwegian method of calling in livestock using song. (Photo by Denise Lana)

The Norwegian practic of kulokk stands in stark contrast to the monosyllabic calls many Midwest farmers use to call in their herds from the fields.

Peggy Larson, who demonstrated the melodious method of cattle calling during this year’s Nordic Fest, said the use of elaborate songs to bring cows, goats and other animals down from the mountains dates back to the Middle Ages in Norway. Teenage farm girls  in Norway would take herds to higher mountain pastures for grazing in summer months, according to a piece Larson authored in 2017 for The Norwegian Ameriocan Magazine. “They had high voices that could be heard by animals up to 3 miles away,” Larson said. “Some of the songs had no words and were just melodies, but other songs called the animals out by their names.”

She said the girls would sometimes stay with the herds on the mountain for up to three months and make cheese and butter while tending the herds. The kulokks were also sometimes sung to keep predators away, Larson said, as Norway’s mountains were teeming with wolves and bears and some feared folklore creatures such as trolls and huldra — trolls which lived under the grass in the mountainside and appeared as beautiful women to lure farmers to their doom.

“When it was time for the cattle to be milked and to rest for the evening, each girl used her own musical call to bring them in,” Larson said. “There were many girls around the mountaintops with their herds, and each herd knew the call of their own mistress.”

Larson, herself a globally accomplished jazz singer and voice teacher, studied kulokk in preparation for her master’s thesis and, in 2007, she traveled to Norway to immerse herself in the culture and research kulokk firsthand. When she arrived back in the states and found herself traveling in Wyoming, Larson decided she was going to try her hand at kulokk. She stopped along a wide Wyoming field and began calling to a herd from the road — her powerful falsetto chant swirling on the wind.

“Before long, one turned and started walking towards me,” Larson said. “Soon, the whole herd was gaping at me from across the fence.”

Full feature article is available in the August 1 Decorah Leader.

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